A tree is covered by many leaves, and in the fall when it loses its leaves
they all tend to fall within the same time period of a week or so. A leaf
doesn't fall alone, so he is not lonely, but he is still one leaf falling
from a tree. "oneliness"

or you could assume that there is a mistake in the first and sixth comments
and that the "1"(number one) referred to is actually an "l" (lowercase
letter L). this could then lead one to interpret the poem as a
statement/meditation on loneliness defined by, or represented by, a leaf
falling - the ultimate gesture of loneliness as it falls through the air
all alone from the tree, its home, its parent, life etc. the brevity of
the poem and its vertical structure also add to the sense of loneliness: it
looks lonely on the page and could be said to be falling down the page,
like the leaf.

the word "loneliness" does not actully appear in the poem at all. what is
written is "oneliness" a made up word based around the idea of being alone
set up in the first line. however if you accept that the parenthesis looks
similar to a lower case "L" then the word can take on two meanings - being
one: "oneliness" and or lonely: ")oneliness". Or perhaps both at the same
time in a suitably vague, make you own mind up, cummings kinda way?

okay. in the original comment on this poem, someone has written that "l(a"
means "a leaf falls on loneliness". okay, here's the mistake: the words
which compose the poem are "loneliness" (surrounding the ( )s. & "a leaf
falls" (inside the
( )s NOT a leaf falls ON loneliness.

The poem doesn't have to mean anything. It's just a piece of visual poetry
that describes loneliness. And the leaf doesn't fall ON loneliness. The
whole thing written on one line reads: "1(a leaf falls)oneliness", with the
"1" (one) cleverly substituting the letter "l" to emphasize singularity.

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